Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a current sensor and a current measuring device.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-66393, filed Mar. 27, 2014, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Description of Related Art
There is conventionally known a current sensor that, by detecting with a magnetism detecting element the strength of the magnetic field produced by electric current flowing through a bus bar, measures the value of the electric current correlating with the strength of the magnetic field.
The current sensor that is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2012-63285 is provided with a conductive member that is formed in an approximate U-shape in plan view, and two magnetic elements that are arranged between mutually facing conductive paths of the conductive member. In this current sensor, the strength of the magnetic field generated by electric current passing through the conductive member is individually detected by the two magnetic elements, and a current value correlating with the strength of the magnetic field is found from the strength of the magnetic field that is obtained. Also, this current sensor has a constitution that cancels out the influence of a disturbance magnetic field causing measurement error by differentially operating the two magnetic elements.
The current sensor with the aforementioned constitution can measure electric current passing through a current path of the measurement target by severing the current path that is the measurement target and inserting the conductive member of the current sensor in the current path. For that reason, with the aforementioned current sensor it is not possible to measure an electric current without severing the existing current path.